Newsletter

Marne Air begins deploying to Afghanistan

Photos by Corey Dickstein/Savannah Morning News

Army Col. Allan Pepin, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade, and brigade Command Sgt. Maj. James Snyder roll up the unit’s colors before casing them Friday morning at Hunter Army Airfield. Third CAB and its subordinate battalions will soon deploy to southern Afghanistan for a nine-month tour.

The unit flags of the 3rd Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation brigade and its five subordinate battalions line up Friday morning at Hunter Army Airfield. Unit leaders cased each of the colors during the ceremony that marked their impending move into Afghanistan.

Corey Dickstein/Savannah Morning News The 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade's commander Col. Allan Pepin stands in front of his unit on Hunter Army Airfield's flight line Friday morning as he prepares to lead about 2,500 soldiers into Afghanistan.

Two years after it returned from its first deployment to Afghanistan, the 3rd Infantry Division’s Combat Aviation Brigade in the coming weeks will again move into the war-torn country.

Already some of the about 2,500 deploying soldiers from 3rd CAB — nicknamed Marne Air — have left for southern Afghanistan, where the brigade and its five subordinate battalions will support operations throughout the International Security Assistance Force’s Regional Command South.

Col. Allan Pepin, CAB’s commander, said his soldiers were prepared and excited for their chance to contribute to Operation Enduring Freedom where much of the 3rd Infantry Division — including its headquarters, its sustainment brigade, and portions of its 1st and 2nd brigade combat teams — has already begun operating.

“We are honored to join ... our comrades who have deployed or will soon deploy from the Hunter Army Airfield (and) Fort Stewart area as we support our nation’s call,” Pepin said. “... We have worked tirelessly to prepare for this deployment, and I am extremely confident that these soldiers will serve with distinction.”

The brigade will be responsible for a task force whose mission is to support both conventional and special operations ground forces throughout the region while simultaneously helping prepare Afghan National Security Forces to take the lead in security operations — including aviation — in their country.

The unit, Pepin said, for nine months will conduct attack, assault, air reconnaissance and medical evacuation operations using its wide rage of assets that include Apache, Kiowa Warrior, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters.

After more than six months of preparations that including rotations to the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., and a readiness mission near Fort Bliss, Texas, Pepin is confident in his brigade’s abilities.

“I have no doubt this unit will be able to do its mission,” he said. “It will do it at high standards and it will do it safely, with discipline and with dignity.

“What I told our soldiers is that our mission is all about supporting the ground forces. That is why we exist. At the end of the day, it’s not about an aircraft — that’s a piece of equipment; it’s a tool — it’s about soldiers, and they will serve honorably and achieve great things.”

Col. John Hort, the 3rd ID’s deputy commander-rear, said 3rd ID commander Maj. Gen. Robert Abrams, who is currently deployed to Afghanistan as the commanding general of Regional Command South, is excited for Marne Air to join him.

“There’s no other combat aviation brigade in the army he would rather have providing support in Regional Command South than this outfit,” Hort said. “... It will be these five battalions that will be counted on to successfully carry out the missions asked of them; I have the utmost confidence in these soldiers.”

MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa, Japan — Marine Corps Captain James E. Frederick, who ejected from a Marine F/A-18 on Dec. 7, was pronounced dead after his body was found during search and rescue operations.